The present invention relates to an apparatus, often used under pressure, for carrying out chemical, endothermic or exothermic reactions, generally in the presence of at least one catalyst, e.g. solid, in at least one reaction zone equipped with heat exchanger plates which make it possible to control the temperature of this reaction zone.
When the temperature of the reaction must be kept within relatively narrow limits, it is known to place in heat transfer apparatus in the catalytic bed, either based on tubes (GB-B-2 046 618), or based on plates (U.S. Pat. No. 3,666,423) or based on grids (U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,807), and to cause a fluid to flow inside this apparatus for transferring heat the fluid generally being designated as heat-carrying fluid.
The drawback in the use of a tube heat transfer apparatus is due to the fact that the connection between the individual tubes is very cumbersome and consequently it is very difficult to fit the assembly correctly inside the reactor. The drawback of the plate heat transfer apparatus of the patent U.S. Pat. No. 3,666,423 is its size and its low efficiency. To withstand the reaction pressure, the plates are only partially hollowed out and the heat-carrying fluid thus has only a small portion of the area of the plates for carrying out its exchange work.
The present invention overcomes these drawbacks. The plates used in the invention work under very little stress which makes it possible to hollow them out completely and to let the heat-carrying fluid provide the exchange through the whole of the available surface. In addition, fittings and connections are sufficiently simple to be carried out readily in the restricted space occupied by the reactor.